Sleepy Hollow, three episodes in, has been one of the surprises of the fall. It’s a show that takes itself just seriously enough to pull off the campier aspects, and the leads are showing some real chemistry. And we’ll get to see more of it, because Fox just renewed it for a second season, making it the first freshman show to get renewed this year.
Deadline, naturally, has the word on a second season of head-chopping action, as well as the surprising fact that these two seasons will be pretty short. Sorry folks, they’re just thirteen episodes apiece:
Sleepy Hollow is part of Fox’s strategy for shorter, largely uninterrupted, cable-style runs. It was designed to air its 13-episode first season in the fall before another drama series ordered under the same template, The Following, returns in the Monday 9 PM hour — likely in January. Given the success of Sleepy Hollow, it probably was tempting to try and extend its freshman season to the standard 22 episodes, but Fox brass stuck with their original plan.
It’s actually a bit of vindication for everyone involved. The show, which was barely on anyone’s radar, took everyone by surprise by being Fox’s best drama debut in six years. More to the point, it’s kept those good ratings; in fact, it’s doing better than Bones, its lead-in show, and that’s supposed to be one of Fox’s biggest dramas.
It’s not hard to see why: The show fits the buddy cop format that viewers are comfortable with, but it really hit the ground running. Both Ichabod and Abby are pretty tightly defined characters; they have educations, histories, families, and they’re pretty well played by Tom Mison and Nicole Beharie, respectively. Albeit they could probably stand to do a little more research into things like scorpions, even if that did lead to a sleazy used-car salesman/bitterly sarcastic Mohawk shaman who really needs more screen time.
Hopefully, though, we’ll see a few specials or something sprinkled here and there throughout the year. And hey, we’ve got ten episodes this season to enjoy.